Numerals, not numbers, are the subject of this survey of how man gradually developed handier words and symbols to express "how many." The first two chapters, on the need to improve upon the awkward "a day and another day and another day and another day and another day," the discovery of counting on fingers, and the cumbersome length of early Egyptian notations for large numbers, belabor the very elementary points, whereas a chapter on numbers and alphabets seems entirely beside the point; other sections on the development of Egyptian and Roman systems and the adaptation of the superior Hindu system with its symbol for "nothing" are set forth in an easy conversational style and clarifying as far as they go, but they don't go as far as other introductory surveys which include material on binary and other possibly number systems. Asimov doesn't even attempt to get readers thinking mathematically or to stimulate them, as he did in How Did We Find Out' the Earth is Round? (KR, p. 118), to rediscover with the ancients.
Pub Date: June 7, 1973
ISBN: 0802761356
Page Count: -
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1973
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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